Give my heart

 

Please play this version of IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER by the Gloucester Cathedral Choir:  

*     *    *     *     *     *

  Steven Pressfield has written a true masterpiece on the subject of creativity (a subject that concerns us all) called The War of Art. 

     He has a short chapter in the book called A PROFESSIONAL DOES NOT HESITATE TO ASK FOR HELP. He writes, "Tiger Woods is the consummate professional. It would never occur to him, as it would to an amateur, that he knows everything, or can figure out everything on his own. On the contrary, he seeks out the most knowledgeable teacher and listens with both ears. The student of the game knows that the levels of revelation that can unfold in golf, as in any art, are inexhaustible."

     I wrote a book once about motivation and the many places it comes from. In it, I was just beginning to explore coaching. I was just beginning to understand that one's life can be a work of art containing many levels of revelation. 

     In that book I talked about a time of discovery…long before I ever really understood the value of coaching, and the person who taught me that value: a young business consultant named Steve Hardison. Hardison taught me this: Tiger takes a lesson not because his coach is a better player who can give advice and tips, but because his coach can stand back from Tiger Woods and see him objectively.

     One time I was having a hard time enrolling people into seminars and doing my prospecting calls on the phone. Hardison grabbed the phone and started calling people and signing them up. Then he accidentally dialed a wrong number and reached some mechanic at a car repair garage. Most people would have apologized at that point and hung up and dialed again. But rather than waste the call, Steve introduced himself and then stayed on the phone---until the mechanic had signed up for the seminar.

     Hardison is a gifted and courageous public speaker, a resourceful and relentless salesperson, a talented athlete and a committed family man and church member. The kind of guy who used to make me sick!

     I could write an entire book about Steve Hardison's remarkable work in coaching and consulting, and someday I just might. Examples of ways that he coached me to higher levels of performance are plentiful. But I think the greatest thing he has taught me is the value of coaching itself. 

     Once you open yourself up to being coached, you begin to receive the same advantages enjoyed by great actors and athletes everywhere. When you open yourself up to coaching, you don't become weaker-you grow stronger. You become more responsible for changing yourself.

     In The Road Less Traveled , M. Scott Peck writes, "The problem of distinguishing what we are and what we are not responsible for in this life is one of the greatest problems of human existence...we must possess the willingness and the capacity to suffer continual self-examination."

     The best coaches show us how to examine ourselves. It takes cour-age to ask for coaching, but the rewards can be great. The best moments come when your coach helps you do something you have previously been afraid to do. When Hardison would recommend that I do something I was afraid to do I'd say, "I don't know if I could do that."

     "So don't be you," he would say. "If you can't do that, then be someone else. Be someone who could do it. Be DeNiro, be Bruce Lee, be anybody, I don't care, as long as you do it." 

     Coaching's contribution to my life is illustrated in these words by French philosopher Guillaume Apollinaire:

'Come to the edge,' he said.
They said, 'We are afraid.'
'Come to the edge,' he said.
They came.
He pushed them.
And they flew.

You can get coaching anytime. If coaching is appropriate for your golf or tennis game, it would be even more appropriate for the game of life. Ask someone to be honest with you and coach you for awhile. Let them check your "swing." Let them tell you what they see. It's a courageous thing to do, and it will always lead to more self-motivation and growth.

Comments

[replica handbags]

i know taht! wow!Let them tell you what they see. It's a courageous thing to do, and it will always lead to more self-motivation and growth.

[Bob]

Yes, it's a beautiful song.
Happy New Year!

[Steve Chandler]

Bob,

It has been 12 months since I posted this song...and so many people thank me for posting it I just seem to keep doing it for no real justifiable reason.....I think it's amazingly beautiful and moving whether you take it in as a Christmas song or just a great moment of creative beauty about giving one's heart.

Happy New Year!

Steve

[bob]

Why the Christmas song again? What's so special about it?